Manufacture of buckle-frames



G.R.KELSEY.

MANUPAGTURE 0P BUGKLEFRAMES. 384.449. a Patented June 12 1888 I side,the invention also.

UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

MANUFACTURE OF BUCKLE-FRAMES.

SPECIFICATION fo i g pm i. of Letters Patent NO. 384,449, dated June 12,1888.

Application filed April 16, 1888.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE R. KELsEY, of West Haven, in the county ofNew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inBuckle-Fra1nes; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure 1, A perspective view of the buckleframe complete; Fig. 2, thetwo ends of the wire as prepared for union in the usual construetion;Fig. 3, the same two ends as set together in the usual manner; Fig. 4,the frame as in the act of introducing the tenon into the recess; Fig.5, a transverse section through the former, showing the frame thereonand the die for bringing the two ends together; Fig. 6, a longitudinalsection in the plane of the tenon,illustrating the operation of the die;Fig. 7, a transverse section through the tenon, illustrating theoperation of the said die; Fig. 8, a longitudinal section at rightangles to the plane of the tenon,illustrating the same operation; Fig.9, a transverse section through the tenon after the final closing orstriking opera tion; Fig. 10, the invention as applied to a ring.

This invention relates to an improvement in the construction of thatclass of buckle-frames which are made from wire, the wire being bent toform the two sides and ends of the frame, the two ends of the wire beingunited at one being applicable to other articles which are madefronrwire, bent into shape, with the two ends brought together andunited. In the more general construction of this class of frames themeeting ends of the wire are compressed to secure them together,

I but this is necessarily an expensive operation.

To obviate this difficulty various devices have been resorted to foruniting the ends of the wire. One of these devices i represent in Fig.2, where the adjacent ends of the wire are shown enlarged and aspreparedfor uniting. On the end of one part, a, a dovetail-shaped tenon,b, is formed, and in the corresponding end of the other part, d, a likerecess, 6, is formed, and so that the two may be set together, asrepresented in Fig. 3. This interlocking connection serves a goodpurpose to prevent the possible separating longitudinally; but asusually practiced there is very little strength transversely in theplane of the recess and tenon, and this plane, in the case of abuckleframe, is necessarily in the plane of the frame itself, so thatstrain upon the side thus united has a tendency to open the joint orseparate the parts.

The object of my invention is to so interlock the two ends thus providedwith interlocking tenon and recess that accidental separation ispractically impossible.

To this end my invention consists in compressing the tenon in thedirection of its plane after it has been introduced into its recess,whereby its depth is reduced, and in such rcduction of its depth it willbe expanded laterall ythatis, will be spread within the recesswhichnecessarily enlarges the recessed portion, and then striking the unitedside of the frame in suitable dies, so as to close 'the expanded portionupon the tenon, and thus cause the recess to engage the teuon in alldirections.

The shape of tenon b and recess 0 in the re spective parts a d, which Ihave shown, is probably the best for buckle'frames and like articlesthat is to say,tl1e shape of the tenon is produced by curves, and themortise of. like shape, so that there are no angles in the formation ofeither. The wire for the buckle-frame having its ends thus prepared isbent into shape, as seen in Fig. 4, so as to bring the tenon over therecess, but outside of itthat is, so that the tenon will overlap therecessed end. The frame is bent around the former, in the usual manneror otherwise-that is, leaving the tenon end outside. Then, to bring thetwo ends together, the closing-die is brought upon that side in theplane of the frame, and so as to force the tenon int-o the recess, asrepresented in Fig. 5; but this closing die A, Fig. 5, has on its face aprojection, f, which corresponds substantially to the shape of thetenon, and so that as the die A is forced up against the frame, which isstill on the former B, the overlapping end will be forced into line withthe other portion, as represented in Fig. 5, and as the operation ofclosing is completed the projection f on the face of the die willcompress the tenon, so as to contract it in the direction of its plane,as seen in Figs. 6 and 7. This operation upon the tenou spreads it atright angles to its plane and within the recess, as represented in Fig.7, and as also seen in Fig. 8. Then in suitable closing orstrikingdiesthe frame is struck, so as to reduce the expanded portion or" theframe about the recess to its original diameter, as seen in Fig. 9,which closes the metal of the recess around the tenon, and so as toprevent its movement laterally, while the interlocking shape of thetenon and recess holds them together longitudinally. Thus the two endsof the frame are united in the strongest possible manner, and withoutthe necessity of soldering or brazing, and the work ofuuitingis allperformed by machinery, which bends and strikes the frame, it beingunderstood that the bending-dies are the same as commonly used, exceptas to the projection for striking the tenon, and that the striking-diesare thesame as commonly used for this purpose. This illustration ofuniting; the two ends of the Wire in the formation of the buckle-framewill be SllffiClQlll) to enable those skilled in the art to apply it toa ring, such, for illustration, as seen in Fig. 10, such rings beinganalogous articles to buckle-frames. By the term buckletrame, therefore,I wish to be understood as including other articles which are adapted tobe united in the same manner.

It will be understood from the tbregoing" that I do not cla m, tr-wally,forming adovetail on one end of the wire with a corresponding 1nortisein the other end of the wire, so that the dovetail may set within thewire, the essential feature of my invention being the upsetting orspreading of the tenon transversely, so as to make an interlock betweenthe sides of the mortise and the sides of the tenon.

I e1ain1-- The herein-described improvement in the manufacture ofbuckle-frames, consisting in constructing the meeting ends of the wire,the one with a dovetail-shaped tenon and the other with a correspondingrecess, the tenon set within said recess and contracted in the direction of the plane of the tenon, correspondingly expanding the tenonwithin the recess at right angles to the plane of the tenon, thenclosing the recessed portion over the tenon, substantially as described.

WALTER A. M AIN, I V. W. KnLsnY.

